Shut Your Trap
by Better a Freak Than A Fake
Summary: Sequel to On The Flip Side: Capture was Fliqpy's best friend since Fliqpy's creation and now he's come to Happy Tree and Fliqpy recognizes him. Will he be able to bring Fliqpy to his senses? Rated T for violence and gore.
1. Stop By This Disaster Town

**Well, here I am writing a sequel to my once one-shot but Capture was just such a good character that I had to do something else with him and I normally don't even like HTF OCs. I will warn ya'll though that if you thought my Fliqpy was weird, wait until you see "Good" Flippy. Anyway, let's get this story started!**

Disclaimer: I do not own Happy Tree Friends or any character but Capture. All rights go to Mondo Media.

The war's been over for twelve years, that's hard to believe sometimes. Like most animals in the Weaponized Animal Regiment, I've still been having nightmares and flashbacks. Shell Shock as they call it but it seems like something much worse than I ever imagined. I'm a pretty mentally strong squirrel but it's a lot to handle.

I also haven't been able to stop thinking about my best friend from the war, Fliqpy. Not Flippy, that guy was weird and a walking disaster bomb everywhere he went. Fliqpy had no idea where he was from but Flippy kept mentioning being from a small town called Happy Tree.

Unfortunately, Flippy apparently kept being a disaster bomb because I read that there was an unknown disaster in Happy Tree and there were no survivors. I have trouble accepting that must mean that Fliqpy's dead. He survived the war with perseverance only to die in a small town in Tennessee. I guess the world works funny that way.

Still, I recently felt compelled to check out Happy Tree, maybe find out what happened to wipe out a whole town that everyone refuses to talk about. I knew it might be horrifying but I must have seen much worse in the war. As far as I was concerned, the worst thing I could find was nothing.

There was no reason not to go. So, that's how I ended up in my car, heading all the way to Tennessee.

I thought I was prepared for anything but I wasn't prepared for what I saw when I got there. Furry bodies were strewn across the streets and parking lots but the corpses looked much fresher than I expected, some were even still bleeding.

Then I heard a scream, something I obviously wasn't expecting to hear if everyone in this town was dead as the news claimed. My soldier instincts kicked in and I ran towards the scream instead of away from it like some might.

There were more corpses but some animals were still alive and running. For what you may ask? Well, that's what surprised me the most. It was Fliqpy!

Except, something was wrong. Fliqpy was attacking the animals. But, I didn't understand. Fliqpy always hated killing in the war and those were enemy soldiers. These were what I assumed to be innocent animals. So why was he attacking them? That's what I had to figure out. "Fliqpy!" I called out, hoping he'd remember my voice.

He stopped attacking and looked up at me, a flash of recognition and joy crossing his face. "Capture! Oh my god, Capture!" He rushed over, hugging me. "I've been looking for you guys for years!"

I looked around seeing that some of the animals stopped running and only looked about as confused as I was. "What are you talking about, Fliqpy?" I asked confused why he would be looking for 'us' in Happy Tree. Not that he wasn't always a confused guy. "And why are you killing those animals?"

He pulled away and looked at me with confusion as well. "What are you talking about, Capture? They're General Tiger's men and they're trying to kill me! I've been stuck fighting them alone since I got lost from you guys!"

Since the war actually ended, I realized. Fliqpy was always confused beyond repair but this was an entirely different animal. He honestly believes he's still in the war but maybe I could talk some sense into him. "No, Fliqpy, they're not. The war ended twelve years ago."

He looked confused and looked around, clearly thinking about what I said but suddenly threw his knife into another of the animals. "I think you've gone crazy, Capture. This has to be the war."

"It isn't, Fliqpy. Can't you trust me on this?"

"I do trust you, Capture," he said, much to my relief, hoping that means he'd believe that this isn't the war and stop attacking innocent animals. "It's them I don't trust." He motioned around him. "You were captured, weren't you? They must have brainwashed you into thinking the war is over to get your guard down."

I realized then that I wasn't going to convince him the war was over, no matter how true it was. So, I played along but thought of a way I could still get him to stop killing. "I guess they might have. Look, let's get somewhere safer with less enemies around trying to kill us."

"Yes, let's. I think I know just the place." I followed as he lead me away from the animals, still killing a few as he went but I assumed that would soon be over.

He led me to a tree that we climbed up and settled into. "Alright, they shouldn't be able to find us up here." He settled down with his back against the trunk. "I normally set up in tree like this to do my writing."

He pulled out a battered notebook that I instantly recognized from our time in the war. "You're still keeping a journal?" I asked, a bit amazed that he still would all this time but I did know how attached he was to it so it wasn't all that surprising.

"Of course I am. It's the only thing that's been able to keep me sane though all this time." Fliqpy was never sane but I wasn't about to tell him that. "How have you been able to keep sane?"

"Oh, the same way." I said and it wasn't exactly a lie. Even outside of the war, I had kept a journal everyday to deal with the shell shock.

"That's good. It really does help doesn't it?"

Before I could respond, there was the screech of tires followed by a loud crash that could only mean one thing. I looked over in the direction of the crash wondering for the dozenth time what the heck was up with this town.

When I looked back, it wasn't Fliqpy anymore. His eyes were completely black and his teeth bucked. It was Flippy. "Capture, what are you doing here? And why are we in a tree?"

Even though I hate Flippy, I accepted his presence as a chance to get some answers. "I came to find out how everyone in this town died but I didn't expect to find what I did." I explained, answering his first question with my own. "What is up with this town, why is everyone dying all over the place and how is anyone left if this is the case?"

"Happy Tree Town is cursed. Everyone in town dies horrendously on a near daily basis but comes back to life the next day good as new," Flippy explained casually even though everything he was saying was far from a casual matter. "It's been that way for years now."

"What you're saying, it's impossible."

"That's why we're dead permanently to the rest of the world. Because it's impossible but stay around and you'll see for yourself." His tone suddenly turned serious as he said, "If I were you though, I'd get out of here and never look back. After your first death, there is never any escaping the curse no matter what you do."

I must say. The idea of dying in seemingly painful ways regularly was terrifying and I understood that I still had the chance to escape but I was never one to leave a man behind. "I'm not leaving Fliqpy."

"Fliqpy?" He taped the side of his head with his finger and asked, "You mean him?" He only laughed. "Suit yourself." His voice suddenly turned malicious. "Don't say I didn't warn you."

 **What was that? Okay, so Flippy wasn't that different the little bit that we saw him but he will in future chapters. Please review and constructive criticism is greatly appreciated. Flames are okay too. I'm immune**.


	2. Dislike a Boss!

**Now you get to see my "Good" Flippy better and you get to see my Lumpy if this and On The Flip Side are the only of my fics you've read.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Happy Tree Friends. All rights go to Mondo Media.**

To say I was taken aback by Flippy's tone would be an understatement. Back in the war, Flippy was freaky, reckless, and overall the last animal anyone wanted to be partnered with but I figured he was just a terrible soldier, he wasn't malicious. "How can you be happy that I'm stuck here now?"

"It just means one more friend to provide labor and this town can always use more manual labor," Flippy said in the same tone as before as he turned and started to climb down from the tree we were in. "Follow me, Lumpy's going to want to have a word with you before adding you to the work schedule."

"And what happens if I refuse?" I asked, not too keen on the idea of following orders from Flippy or whoever this Lumpy fellow he's talking about is. The latter I don't even know and the former I know well enough to know that I'm not going to listen to him.

Flippy climbed back up with a disturbing grin that made me automatically scowl in responce. "If you refuse then Lumpy will have to come find you and that won't end well for you at all. You might end up in jail if he's in a bad mood. Either way, you won't like it one bit." He started climbing back down, clearly confident that I would follow now.

Which I did… I still knew next to nothing about Lumpy but, the way he talked about him, he had too much power for one person to hold. I didn't want to risk it. I had enough of dealing with that in the war. "So, who is Lumpy?"

As we walked back into town, I noticed the way he was walking. It was similar to how I saw General Tiger's men walk. Is he one of "Lumpy's" men? Could Lumpy be the new General Tiger? Well, that was something to find out. "Lumpy is the rightful ruler of Happy Tree. He owns everything and everyone in it. Don't get me wrong though, Happy Tree would be a barren wasteland devoid of all necessities if it weren't for Lumpy's methods."

That may very well be what he believed but I wasn't buying it one bit the way Flippy was talking about him, the way he mentioned that I could be arrested if he's in a bad mood, there couldn't be anything good about him. Still I continued to follow but tried to work out a plan on how to handle the clear tyrant. "It appears I've had you tagged wrong this whole time. You're much worse than I thought." I hissed but followed nonetheless, shoving my paws into my fur pockets with a heavy sigh.

Flippy only laughed, "Say whatever you want about me I already know how you feel." He turned his head back towards me with the same goofy smile. "You know, it's not too late to up and leave, never look back."

I gulped but held my composure, telling him in a calm and confident voice like the one he was talking to me in, "No amount of death, pain, or tyranny can make me leave Fliqpy behind. That's not the soldier way."

"Not the soldier way…" Flippy repeated before laughing harder than before when I was completely serious. "This isn't the WAR, Capture. It's every man for themselves and the sooner you learn that the better. I tried to help someone once and was rewarded with a shard of glass in the eye and became roadkill."

"I refuse to follow that. I already thought I lost Fliqpy forever once. I don't want to lose him forever for real." I was tempted to try to flip him out somehow but I would have no way to find the tyrant if I did. No, I had to bite my tongue and tolerate the irritating flea for at least a little bit longer.

"You know you're a freak right?" Flippy asked and pointed to his head again. "Just like him. He isn't worth it and he'll never see you as anything good again. He'll only hurt you, physically and mentally."

"You're wrong," I stated, clenching my paws inside my pockets where they were out of view from the psychotic bear. "Fliqpy is more than worth it and he sees me as me. ME! His ally, his best friend, his glimmer of hope and I can't take that away. He'll never hurt me. I know he won't."

"No wonder you wanna stay here." Flippy laughed again and I figured before he even said it that his 'realization' was far from the real reason. "You really are suicidal. Never seen one of those before."

"So what if I was?" I asked, not seeing myself get any further on the other argument. "You already said that we come back to life…"

"Whatever you choose to do I guess but I can't imagine Lumpy being too happy about that." Flippy shrugged as we arrived at some kind of farm. "Lumpy should be working here today."

"The tyrant actually has a normal job?" I was shocked. I had never heard of such a thing. The mere idea of running a whole town, whether as a tyrant or a diplomat, as well as a farm was something I couldn't even began to imagine but both seemed to be in good shape, you know, besides all the death. There was one other thing that surprised me as well. "And what do you mean by 'today'?"

"Lumpy isn't a tyrant! He is the savior of this town and you better show him respect for everything he's done." I rolled my eyes but didn't say a word. Clearly he was too deep into those beliefs for me to convince him otherwise. "And with a self-sufficient town of only twenty-one residents, twenty-two now." I never imagined the town could be THAT small. "Everyone has to do their own part. That also means, since there are more jobs than residents, everyone's jobs change dependent on the day."

"That's the weirdest thing I've ever heard of," I said, just as blunt as he has been this whole time. I couldn't imagine that could be a very efficient process. If everyone's always changing around jobs every day, they can't possibly have the chance to actually get good at any of them. "Still, I can't think of any better ways to run such a small town without any imports." I let out a sigh, not liking having to admit that tyranny would ever be the best way.

"Exactly." Flippy patted my back as if we were suddenly the best of friends when I still couldn't stand his guts. "As I said, this town would be a baron wasteland if it weren't for Lumpy's methods. Now, let's stop wasting time standing around talking to each other and go talk to Lumpy instead."

I still wasn't too keen on the idea of talking directly with the tyrant, or likely more so, the tyrant talking to me, but the idea of staying and talking to Flippy wasn't any better and running really wasn't an option.

So, I followed him into the barn where we found a blue moose with opposite facing antler bent over a cow which he was clearly milking dry. Figures that he'd mistreat animals as well as his citizens. I must admit that he looked very different from what I had imagined. "Lumpy, Sir," Flippy said, getting Lumpy's attention but he continued milking. "We have a new citizen in Happy Tree."

Lumpy laughed, it was a weird hiccupping laugh that sounded nothing like what I'd expect to hear from anyone older than ten, much less a tyrant. If I didn't hear about what he's done, nothing about him would say he was a tyrant and his voice wasn't any more convincing. "A new citizen? First Lammy with that pickle of hers, then the weird stalker guy that no one really sees, now another one? Don't people know this isn't a place anyone wants to live?" Lumpy wasn't even looking at me as he continued milking. "Oh well, certainly not going to complain about having another slave as long as he doesn't threaten my rule but really stupid move on his part."

I was surprised by the blunt and honest use of the word slave, not even trying to hide what he is really doing. It makes it hard to imagine how supportive Flippy and maybe others are of his rule. Still, I'm not sure he was aware that I was there with him so I spoke up. "I'm well aware of the dangers, thank you."

Lumpy stopped laughing and milking and turned around to face me standing up, revealing the first thing about him that looked tyrant-like in that he easily towered over me at ten feet tall. He frowned looking me over though I noticed that one eye didn't follow the other. "What are you? Some kind of masochist?"

 **What is this? Why are Flippy and Lumpy evil? Why is Lumpy using such big words?! Welcome to my head canon! Please review.**


	3. It's Gonna Work

**Disclaimer: I do not own Happy Tree Friends or any of the characters but Capture.**

I kept my eyes right on his but tried not to anger the tyrant any further. It made sense why I would seem like a masochist choosing to stay here knowing everything I did know about the town. "I'm not a masochist. I'm not staying here because I want to suffer. I'm staying here because someone I really care about is stuck here and I don't want to lose him again."

"Someone you really care about?" He repeated, seeming to think that over. "And who might that be and how did you even know he wasn't permanently dead?"

"It's Fliqpy and I didn't know he was alive, I came here to find out how everyone died, only to find this." I noticed my neck was starting to hurt from looking up at him even though it normally wouldn't have so quickly. I did my best to ignore it.

Lumpy only shook his head and answered confidently. "There's no one here named Fliqpy. I know everyone here. Are you sure he's still here? Many of the friends who hadn't died yet fled the town as soon as the curse started. Fliqpy must have been one of them."

"He's talking about him," Flippy corrected, tapping his head then shrugged, "I don't know where the name came from but he fought in the war with us."

"Oh, _him_ , well, what do you want anything to do with that spree killer?" Lumpy started laughing in the same hiccupping way. "All that guy ever does is kill everyone around him. Unless you're a spree killer, too." He stopped laughing and looked serious. "If you are and haven't died yet, I'm going to have to make you leave. We have enough of those."

"No, I'm not a spree killer and it's not Fliqpy's fault that he is one either," I defended, folding my arms across his chest. "He thinks he's still in the war."

"I know that." That didn't make any sense to me. By the way he was talking about Fliqpy, I assumed he had no idea why Fliqpy did what he did. "It's a major inconvenience. I was just pointing out that _you_ probably shouldn't be trying to spend your time with him."

' _It's a major inconvenience,'_ I repeated in my head. I'm not sure why I expected more of a reaction from him. "But he does recognize me as his ally and best friend from the war and I'm sure, with time, I can use that to get him to realize that he's no longer in the war."

Lumpy's expression instantly changed as soon as I said that. "Why didn't you just say so!" He shook my hand without my permission. "Welcome to Happy Tree Town! I'm sure you'll love it here!" Pft! "So, do you have any skills that would be helpful for a specific jobs? Otherwise, I'll just put you in a rotation of various odd jobs like most friends."

I wasn't sure how to respond to his sudden change in attitude and his blatant lie that I'll like things here, so, I just answered his question in the best way I can. "Well, I was a trap expert in the war so I'd say I could be good at building things. Do you have any openings for construction workers?"

"A matter of fact, we do." I mentally slapped myself, of course they do. They probably have openings for everything in this town. "I mean, there's Handy and Mole but we can certainly use one that isn't disabled." I chose not to ask. "Then I won't have to work there quite as often." He nodded, seeming very pleased with the set up. "Yes, that will do nicely. I'll have you start on the reconstruction of Happy Tree Tower, you can't miss it. I need you there in ten minutes and you'll work until ten tonight."

"Ten minutes?!" I gasped, wondering how I was going to make it on time. "But I left my car on the other side of town and I don't even know which way to go." I was foolishly expecting him to give me some more time because of that.

But all I got in response was a simple, "Then you better run." And I did run as fast as my legs would carry me and that was very fast from my time in basic training.

* * *

After a short while of running, I came to a tower that appears to have blown up and was blocked off with construction gates. I climbed into the zone, looking over what needed to be done but was stopped by a voice that I couldn't find the source of. "Hey, squirrel! This is a construction site; you can't be in here!"

"Actually, my name's Capture! Lumpy sent me here to help build!" I called after the voice that I still couldn't locate. I remembered what Lumpy said about the other construction workers. "I take it you're either Handy or Mole?"

"Yes, I'm one of those two!" The voice laughed before saying. "Hold on, I'll be right down!" There was noises that seem too show that he was on the way down and after a while he called again, "Never heard of a Capture. Are you new?"

I decided honesty was my best bet. I had no obvious reason not to be. "Yes, I just arrived earlier today."

"Earlier today?!" The voice was laced with confusion. "So, you must not have died yet or you wouldn't have been back until the next day!" I filed that information away as incredibly important. "Then you have a chance to escape! Forget the job, just run and never look back! Never stop until you're far out of town!"

"I know that dangers and I know I can still escape but I'm not going anywhere! Someone I really care about is here!" I was getting a little tired of explaining that but I will every time I'm asked.

"I see." I barely caught it but the voice didn't seem very pleased with that answer. He reached the bottom and gave me my first look at him. He was an orange beaver with a hard hat and tool belt but what really struck me was that both of his arms ended at the elbow and were wrapped in bandages that told me he likely wasn't born that way. "Go ahead and laugh but I'm Handy."

I tried not to but I did laugh a bit. "Well, they'll be back tomorrow or whenever you resurrect next, right?" As I asked, I remembered what Lumpy said about needing construction workers that aren't disabled and being a permanent (it feels weird to have to specify that) double amputee is definitely a serious disability.

Handy scowled and shook his head. "I lost my hands exactly two days before the start of the curse so I'm stuck this way forever. Quite possibly literally."

I had to admit that was amazing, not just the worst possible timing for him to lose his hands but, "How do you do construction work without any hands? It seems like it would literally be impossible."

"You'll find that, in Happy Tree Town, the impossible happens every day and I'll never reveal my trick." He took on a tone of mischief. "We need to actually get to work. Lumpy will have our hides if he finds us not working. Hard hats are over there." He motioned over to a chest of hard hats with his nub. "They're just part of the uniform. Don't expect them to actually protect you from anything."

I was a bit relieved to see that he doesn't seem to be as accepting of Lumpy's rule as Flippy was as I went over to the hard hats and put one on, as well as a tool belt. "I suppose I couldn't have expected it to in a town like this but thanks for the heads up. So, where do we start?"

"Follow me and I'll show you and just watch out for, well, anything. It's infinitely more dangerous here than anywhere else in town." He led me to where to where the building stopped being in one piece. "So, are you on a time to time or death, time to time, or time to death?"

I had to think that over. Time to time or death is pretty self-explanatory and, I suppose, so is time to death but the whole thing was so different than anywhere else and I wasn't sure what the difference could be between time to time or death and time to time. Surely you can't work when you're dead. "I think he just gave a time, until ten pm…" I answered, hoping that wasn't too bad a thing.

"That means you have to be extra careful." Handy frowned. "If you die, you'll either be brought back to life and sent back to work or charged for lost profits as if you were just slacking off."

I gulped hoping whatever curse is on this town would play nice with me since I just got there. "It's hard to say if you'll die or not," Handy said, as if reading my mind. "This town doesn't really get new residents often but Lammy and Truffles both survived their first day here so maybe it's relatively nice to newcomers."

"I sincerely hope so." Once we got to the spot we were supposed to be working, I had to pull myself up by the beam, wondering how Handy could navigate this place much less get any actual work done. Looking around, I could tell we had a lot of work to do and I'm guess very little time to do it.


End file.
